3 pitchers Yankees should absolutely overpay for in a trade

The Yankees should do (almost) whatever it takes to acquire one of these pitchers via trade.

If the New York Yankees are going to be stingy with money this offseason, then there’s no reason they shouldn’t be liberal with moving top players in their farm system in order to trade for MLB-ready talent. After all, that’s currency 1a. after actual cash.

There are plenty of additions the Bombers need to make, but once again, pitching is their greatest need and the free agent market doesn’t possess many answers for them. But the trade market? That’s an entirely different story, especially if you have the resources to pay up for a momentous acquisition.

And the Yankees do. They have one of the best talent pipelines in all of baseball, which countless other organizations value more greatly than anything else because there aren’t many who possess the spending power of the Yankees. Others are just plain cheap, but whatever works! If prospects can get the deal done and capture a World Series for the Yanks in the next couple years, it’ll be well worth it.

These teams may not be keen on trading these star pitchers, but if general manager Brian Cashman kicks the door down with an offer that’s almost impossible to turn down, the Yankees can flip this offseason on its head. Here are three pitchers New York should be more than willing to overpay for if the opportunity arises.

3. Luis Castillo

If Trevor Bauer leaves the Reds, the Yankees should call them about Luis Castillo.

If the Cincinnati Reds are honest with themselves, they’ll realize 2020 was their only legitimate chance at making a World Series run. They had a three-headed rotation led by NL Cy Young winner Trevor Bauer and he was followed by Luis Castillo and former Yankees outcast Sonny Gray. But they lost in the Wild Card round against the Braves because they couldn’t hit a baseball.

Bauer is more than likely to leave, too. He’ll be signing a lucrative deal elsewhere, which leaves Cincy with Castillo and Gray. It’s still possible to contend with that … if you can hit. But the Reds cannot hit, so why not trade Castillo in the offseason for a combo of top prospects and controllable MLB talent and then wait for the summer deadline when perhaps the pandemic ends and other teams are willing to acquire some big contracts (which would make Mike Moustakas and Nick Castellanos a lot easier to move).

We’re not making up trade packages for these because there are all different kinds, but Cashman should be willing to splurge for a guy like Castillo, who is under club control through 2023 and has ace potential, as evidenced by his 578 punchouts and 3.62 ERA in 90 career starts. And he had an impressive postseason debut against the Braves!

The soon-to-be 28-year-old is sliding into his prime and he could be Gerrit Cole’s right-hand man for the next three years. Keep Jasson Dominguez, leave everyone else on the table. See what happens.